The Newcomer
by Magenta Stone
Summary: When Serenity Carson is Marked, her whole life is turned upside down. But then she meets Zoey Redbird and friends, who take Serenity under their wing. This is a continuation of something wicca this way comes' story.
1. Prologue

Prologue

I'll never forget July 25—for many reasons.

Yes, that was my sixteenth birthday—the day every teen dreams of and adults remember fondly—but that day was turned into something so much more. I finally left the hell that is my foster home, and that night, I fell in love. But most importantly, that night, I ditched my dull life as a human, and embraced (somewhat) the life as someone more than that.

July 25. The day I , Serenity Carson, was Marked.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter One:

Kathryn and I were walking down the street, chatting and giggling like we usually did. I was finally sixteen, and the two of us were going to throw a huge bash at Kathryn's. We had planned this for months. Since school had let out a month ago, we'd had plenty of time to get everything ready. Nearly every decent junk food known to man will be making an appearance; from cheese doodles to chocolate pretzels to syrupy Pepsi and old-fashioned Coke—yay! Kathryn and I had gone dress shopping recently, the last item on our party to-do list; we wanted to look nice for the entire (junior/senior) classes that were invited. Kathryn's parents had even been cool enough to hire a DJ for us. I absolutely couldn't wait.

"So Serenity," Kathryn said, "What did your 'parents' get you?" She put air-quotes around 'parents.' We both hated my foster dad—the **—but my foster mom Jennifer could be pretty cool.

"Well," I replied, "Jennifer got me a new iPod. You know, cause mine broke?"

She laughed. "Yeah, 'broke'." More air-quotes. "Define 'broke.'"

I glared for a sec before I continued. " Broke, was dropped into a bucket of water, whatever. The point is, she got me a Touch! Can you believe it?" We paused our walking for a moment to squeal like the girls we were, which I would be so grateful for later. But for the moment, I was happy. At least, I was until we started walking again.

I felt the waves of power and darkness a second before I saw the source. Even if I hadn't noticed the aura the man produced, I would never have missed the Mark. The sapphire blue crescent moon was situated in the exact center of his forehead. Intricate knots of blue ink creeped along the area around his Mark and eyes, forming a sinister yet oddly beautiful work of art.

He wasn't a man after all… he was a vampyre. And not just any vampyre. He was a Tracker.

The vampyre pointed a single, pale finger at me. The traditional words that fell from his lips would change my life.

"Serenity Carson! Night has chosen thee; thy death will be thy birth. Night calls to thee; hearken to Her sweet voice. Your destiny awaits you at the House of Night!"

Fire erupted in my head followed by the burning pain that concentrated on my forehead. I vaguely remembered hearing Kathryn's blood-curdling scream. The concrete rush up to meet me. Then the whole world went black.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter Two:

When I came to, I was in a room that was vaguely familiar. The posters on the wall swam for a second as I focused, then formed pictures of Kathryn's current obsession: Greenday.

"Serenity!" Kathryn gasped. She jumped up from the stool next to me, fear clouding her brown eyes. "Serenity, ohmygod! He Marked you!" It took a moment for her words and her attitude to register. I couldn't believe it at first, my best friend wouldn't-couldn't--fear me. The longer I gazed, the more it surfaced in Kathryn's eyes, some dark emotion mixed with fear taking over my best friend's face.

"Kathryn? Wha?"

"Y-you have the outline of it on your forehead! Look!" She sobbed and tossed a compact mirror in my lap, too afraid to step closer. I opened it, preparing for the worst. And…

It actually wasn't that bad. True, there was an outline, but the crescent moon was very faint. It could easily be hidden by concealer or a good haircut. The color brought attention to my hazel eyes. Before the Mark, my face was simple; not ugly, not pretty, just simple. With the Mark, it was as if every good feature was highlighted and enhanced. My cheekbones seemed higher, more pronounced and the jaw line was smooth and sharp. I looked...strong...exotic...powerful.

"Wow..." I murmured, captivated by my own reflection. Narcissistic? _Me_? Nah. The sound of Kathryn's hyperventilating brought me back to reality.

"No, not 'wow'," she shrieked. "Try 'freakish'! You're going to have to go to that--that school!!"

"Kathryn…" I reached out unconsciously to comfort her. She cringed away from my touch and stepped back. It would have hurt less if she'd slapped me in the face. "It's only me," I whispered.

"No it's not!! You're turning into one of them!!" I was stunned. Of course it would be me!!

But she was right about becoming one if them. Now that I was Marked, my body would be making the transition from human to vampyre, and most humans hated vampyres more than anything. I personally never got the whole 'humans despise vamps' thing; vampyres were something you gossiped about with your friends. They don't pop up in real life like the stories. I always thought they were as normal as anyone of us--aside from drinking blood, that is. Shouldn't they be able to exist without prejudice? Because from my point of view, prejudice against vampires was just a form of racism. And I hated racism and racists. Hypocrites and bigots, all of them.

So Kathryn was shunning me now instead of later.

"Fine," I growled. "I'm going home. Party's off."

Her only response was to take another couple steps back. I looked at her, maybe for the last time. Something clicked in my mind, and I knew what that dark emotion was. Behind her fear, there was already a spark of hate. My best friend fears me now, and soon she'll hate me.

"Oh, and Kathryn?" She glanced at me. "Worst best friend… _ever_."


	4. Chapter 3

As I walked to my foster parents' home I thought of a way to tell them, more specifically tell Jennifer, that I had to leave and go live at the House of Night. I thought that I would just go up to Jennifer and show her my mark and let her drive me there.

That plan went out the window, so to speak, when I walked into the house to find my foster dad sitting in the living room.

"Is Jennifer home?" I asked him. He pointed towards the kitchen and I walked passed him.

"Jennifer?" I asked and she turned from the stove to look at me. "I have to leave." I told her. Jennifer nodded and grabbed her car keys. We were headed towards the door when my foster dad walked over to us and stopped us from leaving.

"Where are you taking _her_?" He spat out and glared at me from where I was behind Jennifer.

"She has to leave or she'll die." Jennifer told him and started to push passed him to get out the door with me.

"Well she's not leaving. She can die or whatever but she's not leaving this house." He told Jennifer and slammed the door shut.

"I am taking her to the House of Night and you can't stop me." Jennifer said calmly. She pushed passed him and pulled me out the door towards her car.

"Get in and wait." Jennifer told me. I nodded and opened the passenger side door and sat down in her car.

I heard the sounds of a fight and soon Jennifer was walking out to the car, looking a little worse for the wear but I couldn't see any permanent damage. She got into the driver's seat and started the car. We were soon heading for the Tulsa House of Night.

On the way there Jennifer tried to talk to me about things. I was glad she put forth the effort but it was useless to try. "Serenity, I hope you will succeed in the House of Night and become who you were meant to be." Jennifer said to me as she dropped me off at the gates of the school.

I nodded to her, gave her a brief hug and walked through the gates to the school that would forever change my life as I knew it. I didn't know it now but as soon as I walked into the school, I would meet a group of people that would change how I saw the things around me.


End file.
